Phineas Wolcott Cook Family Tree

Known Facts: 1846: Born, NY 1859: Crossed the Plains 1867: Married

JSP Documentation BIRTH: Her personal history records the date. "I was born December 11, 1846 in Conewango, Cattaraugus, Co, New York, the daughter of John and Tryphena Pomeroy Fairchild where I lived with my parents till I was five years old when my parents separated, my mother taking the two children and returning to her father's home and father moving to the state of Wisconsin. After a year or two he came back and took my little brother home with him and we never saw him again till he was grown to manhood..." Woodruff Ward Record of Members, 1900-1958, FHL film 27,421, item 2: Polly Tryphena Fairchild Bryson, dau. of John Fairchild and Tryphenia Pomeroy was born 11 Dec. 1846 at Conewango, Cattaraugus, New York. Baptized 11 June 1859 by James S. Brown and confirmed the same day by William Wright. No death date noted in this record. "Early Fairchilds in America and Their Descendants," 1991, compiled by Jean Fairchild Gilmore, p. 182 also gives her birth. BAPTISM: Woodruff Ward Records, film 27,421 gives the date 11 Jun 1859. Also found in Temple Ordinances Performed at the Instance of John Samuel Bryson. In her autobiography she states: "Mother moved to Laphamville, Kent County, Michigan where she heard the Mormon elders, and joined the church of Latter-day Saints and in 1867 she started to Utah. On the journey across the plains I was baptized by Elder James S. Brown, Captain of the company in the Platte River. It was the summer before I was twelve years old." (Polly Tryphena Fairchild Bryson autobiography p. 1-2.) She was confirmed by William Wright the same day (Biography sheet filled in by Tryphena Fairchild Bryson) EMIGRATION-TO-UTAH: "I much enjoyed the journey as any youngster would. Only when the Indians came in bands, though they were friendly...It was all so wonderful too when we came to the big mountains and valleys after the dry plains. Many nights the handcart company would camp near and as there were musicians in our train, they would have a dance after pushing a handcart all day. On the 28th day of August we entered Salt Lake City...I remember how beautiful I thought everything was, shade trees and crystal water running along the sidewalks." (autobiography pp. 2-3) 8 Aug 1857-59, James S. Brown Wagon Train (Recorded in DUP "Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude," p. 402.) (Her personal history in this source.) SALT LAKE CITY: Went to the first play ever put on in the Salt Lake Theater, "The Pride of the Market." She rememberedthe Black Hawk War and saw a stage coach riddled with bullets She was told there was a dead man inside. She remembered the soldiers coming to Fort Douglas, heard the band and watched them raise and lower the flag. As a young woman she attended many dances at which she saw Brigham Young and other Church authorities. (Handwritten autobiography written when she was 87, to which was written this addendum by Margaret B. Longhurst.) She attended school until she was17 years old, most of the time at the Elinor Pratt School before teaching at Bountiful. (Polly Tryphena Bryson Autobiography) BOUNTIFUL: "She attended school and began to teach school in the town of Bountiful, Davis, Utah. There she met and married Samuel Bryson Jr." (History of the Pomeroy Family, p. 6, written, I believe by Kenneth Longhurst.) Documentation is embedded in the history. WOODRUFF: She noted they moved to Woodruff as pioneers in 1871. It was "a very bleak, cold country...suffered many hardships in the settlement of such a country. I was left alone much of the time while my husband was away making a living for us." (Polly Tryphena Fairchild Bryson autobiography p. 5.) After Samuel died, she lived winters with her daughters away from Woodruff, but"with the first warm days of spring, like the bitrds, she would fly back to her own home nest." ("History of Pollty Tryphena Fairchild Bryson," p. 4, by Margaret Bryson Longhurst) Her last few years were difficult. Due to exema, bad eyesight and poor hearing, she couldn't keep busy. "Early school teachers were Mrs. Tryphinia Fairchilds and her daughter Tryhinia F. Bryson..." "The Woodruff Book, p. 16.) 1850 CENSUS: Cattaraugus, NY, Tryphena Fairchild age 3, born NY. Her mother Tryphena Fairchild is 33, born Mass. about 1817. 1860 CENSUS: Triphena Fairchilds, Great Salt Lake, Utah (9th Ward). She is age 13, born New York living with her mother Triphena Fairchilds, Age 45. (Page: 78, Family number: 11, Film number: 805313, Digital GS number: 4297341, Image number: 00142, NARA publication number: M653) PHYSICAL FEATURES: 5 feet 5 inches, 127 poinds, chest size 36, brown eyes and hair, good health (Biography sheet filled in by Tryphena Fairchild Bryson) ENDOWMENT: FHL film 183,404, Endowment House. Recorded 1862 (Biography sheet filled in by Tryphena Fairchild Bryson) PATRIARCHAL-BLESSING: By Seth Taft CHURCH-SERVICE: Always active in the church, she was the President of the Mutual in Woodruff from 1873 to 1885 and again a few years later for a total of 25 years. She was Secretary for the Primary for many years and also for the Relief Society until the illness of her husband required her to be home with him. (Polly Tryphena Fairchild Bryson autobiography p. 5-6.) SCHOOL: She attended the Eleanor Pratt School (wife of Parley P. Pratt) in Salt Lake City until she was 17. Later she was assistant teacher to Mrs. Pratt. Still ater she went to Bountiful and taught several terms, receiving garden vegetables and food as her pay. (History of Polly Tryphena Fairchild Bryson by M.B.Longhurst, p. 1) "Early school teachers were Mrs. Tryphinia Fairchilds and her daughter Tryhinia F. Bryson..." "The Woodruff Book, p. 16.) VOCATION: She told Bertha McKinnon she kept chickens and a garden all her life. She taught school in Bountiful four terms (p. 4 autobiography) and also in Woodruff. When Samuel had to go live in Evanston for a while for a job, she stayed in Woodruff because she was teaching. When Samuel became ill at the end of his life, she took care of him. DEATH: Idaho Death Certificate, which also notes her birth (State file number 133139). Her obituary noted she had a posterity of 212 living, 25 dead. "There were six generations living until her death...She was a very industrious woman knitting, crocheting and making many beautiful quilts. She did much of this work after she was 90 years of age."

BIRTH: Bryson family records, Margaret Longhurst, 227 West 4 No., Logan, Utah.

Bryson family records.